The SCI Program (Science, Community, Identity)
A new element of Children’s Discovery Museum’s
BioSITE program
September 20, 2012
Dear BioSITE Teachers,
Welcome back! We’re looking forward to another great year and have some exciting news to share with you!
First, thank you so much for your ongoing interest in and support of Children’s Discovery Museum’s BioSITE program. As we near our 20th year, we are making a couple of positive changes to the program and would like to enlist your help in making these things possible. We call this new program SCI (Science, Community, Identity) and it includes the following:
Evaluation
The first component that we are adding is a comprehensive evaluation of the BioSITE program. While we have conducted smaller evaluations at a couple of points in BioSITE’s history, this evaluation will really help us to document the important elements of the BioSITE program and how they contribute to student’s science learning and attitudes. For this project, we are especially interested in how we can help to promote students’ positive science identity.
We have enlisted The Lawrence Hall of Science Research Group to conduct the professional evaluation of BioSITE, and they are developing tools and protocols to assess BioSITE’s effectiveness. The evaluation process will not impact the regular BioSITE programming, but we will let you know if there is an opportunity for your students to be more involved with this exciting opportunity. The evaluation provides an assessment of the BioSITE program, curriculum and staff, but is in no way an evaluation or assessment of you or your teaching. We hope that the evaluation will provide you with insights that could aid you in your science teaching and professional development and that it will send a strong message to funders and school district personnel about the benefits of this important program.
4th Grade Projects
The second component to the project which is new this year is the opportunity for 4th graders to share their science knowledge with others. We know through past evaluations that part of the success of the BioSITE program for the high school participants is learning themselves by teaching others. They develop confidence, an increased interest in the science content, and often a renewed commitment to environmental stewardship.
We want to provide these same opportunities for the 4th graders in BioSITE to share their science knowledge publically, so we have developed a few different ways for them to do that. As part of your participation in BioSITE this year, we would like for you to choose one of the following ways to have your 4th graders share their science knowledge with others. These will be classroom projects which we can help you to facilitate, if you would like. We will provide curriculum write-ups, information during teacher training, and may also be available to facilitate certain projects in your classroom. When completed, your projects will be prominently displayed at CDM. We are especially looking forward to showcasing an array of student work for our upcoming 20th anniversary year that exemplifies the amazing experiences and science learning of all BioSITE students!
Here are our ideas for the 2012 – 2013 share projects…
BioSITE Journaling: BioSITE field work engages students in practicing the skills of observation and nature study. Students can use their journal work to write and share stories of their unique experiences along the creek bank, expand on the questions that are sparked by their field explorations, or create a class collage of nature notes to show the hidden interconnections of a river habitat.
River Map Project: Students work together to create a river map based on observations made during BioSITE field visits. Maps may include descriptions of animals, plants, data collected, and other features of the river.
Share Your Science Project Poster: Students have the opportunity to create a poster about investigations (not limited to BioSITE) that they have done in class or for a science fair.
Schoolyard Naturalist
Students will be able to explore their own school habitat thru one of three different designs: Ask a Question, Design an Experiment: Students work individually or in pairs to figure out something they would like to know about the plant/wildlife on campus and then design an experiment that could help answer their question. Schoolyard Field Guide: Students work together to create a field guide specific to their school, including plant and animal life found directly outside the classroom. Individual Study Spot: Each student will record observations of their own chosen study spot several times throughout the year to discover what is going on there.
River of Words: Facilitated by CDM staff, this project encourages students to use art and prose to celebrate their local watershed. Students are introduced to the international art work and poetry from the River of Words yearly program, and then guided through the process of creating their own watercolors for a display.
Buddy Project: 4th grader students facilitate the Watershed Mapmaking activity for a younger buddy class. CDM staff will help to facilitate this sharing project and photos documenting the experience will be put on display at CDM.
Starting with the BioSITE Teacher Training on September 22, we will be providing more detailed examples and information on each of these projects to help you get started. All participating BioSITE 4th grade teachers will receive a complete packet of detailed write-ups by October 1st. This packet will include suggestions about how to introduce and conduct these activities with your class and specific information about how to create the displays for CDM. Please, as you look ahead to your year, choose one of the above projects that best suits your plans, and sign up for your special share project so that we can proudly display their work at Children’s Discovery Museum.
By November 15th, we will be asking you to commit to the specific project you are planning to complete with your class, and to identify a completion date (for example; April 1 for BioSITE Open House or June 1 for the summer showcase) that fits with your teaching plan. This will allow us to prepare for classroom visits and plan for available space within the Museum for display.
As we proceed in this new endeavor together, please feel free to contact the BioSITE team. We will be keeping you up to date on this project and our progress thru the BioSITE teacher blog. As always, feel free to talk with us to share your suggestions, concerns, or questions.
Thanks again for your participation and all of your support of BioSITE!
Sandy Derby Biret Adden Megan Lee Patti Workover Jenni Martin
BioSITE BioSITE SCI BioSITE Leland Director of
Director Coordinator Coordinator Coordinator Education
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